A “Lost Episode”
Editors’ Note: This is an OLD episode. Idiots without Borders tells the tale of the Idiot travels from their summer home in Minnesota to their “new” winter home in Arizona in the fall of 2015 and their return to Minnesota in the spring of 2016. On the return trip the Idiots took pictures and had good intentions to share these episodes with friends – but life got busy. So… before the Idiots launch their next set of adventures, they are sharing a few “lost episodes.” This episode describes their visit to Canyonlands National Park May 3 & 4, 2016..
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A wide spot in the road…
Sometimes bad luck is just a disguised opportunity. The Idiots drove the long lonely road into the Needles District – one of four areas in the huge (over 300,000 acres!) Canyonlands National Park. It is a remote area - the gate, visitors’ center, and campground are a couple of hours from any sizeable town in eastern Utah.
They arrived near the end of the day… tired and ready to set up camp and watch the sunset. Alas, the campground was full. They were faced with a long drive to Moab with no campground at the other end.
Necessity is the mother of invention. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Utah that are not part of parks, but they are federal lands, administered by the Bureau of Land Management. Camping on BLM land is legal within some general regulations, like being far enough away from water courses and out of sight from the roads..
The Beast is not designed for off-road travel. Just outside the gate, there is roadside pullout. It’s not legal camping – but it is a wide spot in a lightly-used road. They guessed – correctly – that nobody much cares as long as you don’t bother anyone. The Idiots pulled over, mixed a couple gin-and-tonics, and enjoyed the sunset in their non-campsite.
Not bad for a wide spot in the road!
A forty-foot long selfie…
The next day the Idiots wandered around the northern unit of Canyonlands NP, the Island in the Sky District. The Green River has carved a deep winding course into the sandstone as it approaches its junction with the Colorado. These twists and turns are called “goosenecks.” In every direction visitors are greeted with a virtual smorgasbord of visual treats.
Once more, the national park campground was full by the time the Idiots got there. They did find a spot at Horsethief CG, a BLM campground just outside the park. They enjoyed the simple pleasures of life without an itinerary... like grilled burgers, flower photos and and stacking rocks…
The next morning… one more quick trip into the park to soak up the beauty before heading north out of redrock country. A sad “hasta la vista” --- “until we meet again...”
